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Tuesday March 2 2021

Lights Off!

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Sanity Break #1

Did you know that on a ‘Dating Game’ show back in 1968? As Bachelor #2, his answers were so hilariously weird that Dean Martin’s daughter Deena actually picked him out of the lot. This is definitely one for fans of Steve Martin and cheesy dating shows.

Sanity Break #1

Headlines that matter

EX FRENCH PREZ GOES TO JAIL Nicolas Sarkozy and his then wife Carla Bruni were once the most glamorous first couple in the world. Now, Sarkozy is divorced and will end up spending at least a year in jail—or more likely, under house arrest. The reason: He was found guilty of trying to bribe a senior magistrate to illegally obtain information on a judicial investigation into his campaign finances. Point to note: Sarkozy still faces a number of other serious charges, including the claim that he illegally took money from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his election run. ()   THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * Indians with certain underlying health conditions are now eligible for the vaccine—but experts say the list is . With the focus on severe illnesses, equally dangerous conditions like hypertension have been left out. * Japan has asked China to stop to tests its citizens for Covid as it “caused a great psychological pain.” * A shows that 60% of Russians don’t want to take the Sputnik V vaccine—and 64% think the virus was created as a biological weapon. * comes bearing good news: Meeting people and doing things outdoors still works as an excellent safety measure against even the nastiest of variants. * uncharitably notes that PM Modi is the only world leader to put his image on the Covid vaccine certificate.   INDIAN WORKING WOMEN HAVE IT WORST? In a LinkedIn survey of working women in the Asia-Pacific region, Indian women reported experiencing the greatest levels of gender bias:   > “On reasons for being unhappy with opportunities to advance in their careers, 22% working women in India said their companies > exhibit a favourable bias towards men at work, compared to the regional average of 16%. In India, 85% of working women claim to > have missed out on a raise, promotion, or work offer because of their gender, compared to the regional average of 60%.”   Also: men appear to be far less aware of the bias than women: 37% of the women say they get fewer opportunities than men, while only 25% men agree. And the same gap is clear on the matter of salary gap between women (37%) and men (21%). ()   A NEW YORK-SIZED ICEBERG! A giant chunk of ice—measuring 490 square miles (1,290 square km)—has broken off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. And it may be the first of a series of such breakaways or ‘calvings’ in the coming weeks. The event wasn’t a surprise and no, for once, it doesn’t have anything to do with climate change. has all the nerdy details, offers more context. See animation of the break below:   HONOURING TIGER WOODS A great number of top golfers wore his in solidarity with Woods who is recovering from a serious car accident. He said in response:    > "It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, > you are truly helping me get through this tough time."   A VERY ANCIENT TROPHY ‘CAR’! Archaeologists are very excited over the discovery of an almost-perfectly preserved ceremonial chariot near Pompeii in Italy. Given its ornate carvings, it likely belonged to a wealthy family, and was used for special occasions. One expert :   > "Many of the vehicles I'd written about before ... are your standard station wagon or vehicle for taking the kids to soccer. > This is a Lamborghini. This is an outright fancy, fancy car."   Also: It looks :   THE VERY MEH GOLDEN GLOBES There were no big surprises at the Globes this year—and the fact that they were held virtually didn’t help the enthusiasm. Though the in-home venues did allow for some . Here are a few highlights if you missed them:   The winners and losers: has the full list. But we personally are very happy that best animated feature—which marked the debut of Black filmmaker Kemp Powers—and Chloé Zhao became the to score the top award for ‘Nomadland’. Meanwhile, organisers received backlash for ‘Minari’, a film on a Korean American immigrant family, to compete in the best picture awards. It won Best Motion Picture (Foreign Language).   Best and worst moments: are over at , but our vote goes to the speech by , Taylor Simone Ledward—who accepted his best actor award for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. Though everyone’s talking about .   Best looks: Yeah there was no red carpet, but people still dolled for their Zoom moment at home. has the full list. Our favourite is , but everyone is also talking about :  

Lights Off!

Sanity Break #2

Back in 2019, Arctic explorer Alexander Bogdanov put on an for a huddle of walruses. Ok, if accordions aren’t your thing, you may want to skip this one… but the walruses grunting in appreciation are priceless!

Sanity Break #2

Smart & Curious

A LIST OF INTRIGUING THINGS One: Someone has invented this:    > “At its core, the Flatcat is an ultra-simplified robot that reacts to touch by folding, twisting, and rolling its body into > different shapes. It doesn’t appear as if it can easily locomote; it has no legs, but like an inchworm it seems it can > rhythmically contract and expand its body to slowly creep across the floor. In other words, it can probably follow you—or hunt > you down—if it so chooses.”   And it looks :   Two: On a more pleasant note, artist Akie Nakata’s are selling like hot cakes on Facebook: “What I aspire to draw is something that gets newly born in my hand, through my dialogues with the stones. I want to paint the ‘life’ of the animals that I felt in the stone.” The Rupi Kaur of stone painting then. Needless snark aside, they are truly amazing! has the story. See the entire collection .   Three: The ritzy French Riviera now has an underwater museum. It kicked off with six sculptures that seek to draw attention to the pollution of our oceans. has the story and more photos.   Four: A baby shark found dead off the coast of Indonesia has a that gives it the appearance of a human face. Experts think it may have been affected by a condition called cyclopia. has the story.  

Smart & Curious

Feel Good Place

Hmm, Udupi needs a brand ambassador to promote waste segregation… who could they possibly pick? Ah yes, Drake ofc.    is a handle dedicated to a dog named Scooter who photobombs iconic photos and—apparently—SRK movies?! Click through to read the hilarious caption.   Baby sloths!   Rahul Gandhi appears to be having fun on the Tamil Nadu campaign trail. Rahul shakes a leg:   Rahul does pushups:  

Feel good place

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